Ever since the good old Tome of Clear Thought and associated magical books listed in the original Advanced Dungeons & DragonsDungeon Masters Guide, players have sought various means of increasing their character stats through the use of what is essentially
"get better stats quick" schemes. As with schemes of the "get rich" variety, these are usually either dangerous, illegal, or both.

Not that that ever stopped anyone.

In the real world of the Ids & Idiots universe, of course, Forbidden Planet doesn't exist.
That's the premise of this entire comic, after all. But most of the other things we know and love (such as mad scientists with beautiful daughters)
do, albeit modified by the lack of Forbidden Planet:

Without the success of Forbidden Planet to spark interest in low-budget science fiction, Blake's Seven was never revived
with a movie and a new series, and remains an obscure short-running TV show.

Star Trek was never made into a film. Gene Roddenberry fans never had it so good.

The major B-movie science fiction background that pervades all of Western culture is The Thing from Another World, despite it never being much good.
The original film was remade recently into a new, updated television series with a bigger budget, high-tech computerised special effects, and edgy writing.
And it sucked.

Throughout the 1950s, all the greatest Hollywood blockbusters were foreign arthouse films.

Transcript

Robby: Sorry, gentlemen. Dr Morbius has instructed me not to let you in.Commander Adams: We shoot!Robby: Oh please. I neutralise the guns.Altaira: Robby, let them in.Robby: Oh come on. Can't I rough them up a bit?Altaira: Your behavioural inhibitor won't let you harm any living being.Robby: I won't hurt them. Much.Commander Adams: Altaira, our ship's been sabotaged.Doc Ostrow: While they catch up, I sneak off to the Krell IQ booster.GM: A few minutes later, Robby enter carrying the Doc's barely conscious form.Doc Ostrow: Monsters, John! Monsters form the Id!Commander Adams: You fool. Anything that increases stats is going to have some curse attached!